Posted on 08/15/2002 6:38:21 AM PDT by Grampa Dave
Fires burning across Oregon
The Associated Press 8/15/02 1:45 AM
Major wildfires are burning on about 479,000 acres in Oregon on Tuesday. About 9,400 firefighters are working in the state. The Northwest Interagency Communication Center is tracking five major fires in Oregon. Top priorities for fire officials Wednesday were the Biscuit fire, covering 390,276 acres, and the 44,880-acre Tiller Complex, and the 136-acre Hemlock fire.
BISCUIT FIRE (formerly called Florence Fire; name changed on 8/11/02)
Started: Florence fire started 26 miles west of Grant Pass, 07/13/02; Sour Biscuit started 17 miles southwest of Cave Junction.
Size: 390,276 acres.
Containment: 26 percent.
Evacuations: The entire Illinois Valley on 12-hour notice to evacuate. Agness, on northwest corner of the fire, is on 24-hour evacuation notice.
Damage: 4 residences and 8 outbuildings.
On scene: 6,383 firefighters.
Cause: Lightning.
TILLER COMPLEX
Started: Outside Tiller, east of Canyonville off Interstate 5, 07/12/02.
Size: 44,880 acres.
Containment: 41 percent.
Evacuations: South Umpqua Road closed at milepost 6. Fifteen residences threatened. Tribal ceremonial grounds and critical cultural resources are threatened.
Damage: No listed damage.
On scene: 2,026 firefighters
Cause: Lightning.
MONUMENT-MALHEUR COMPLEX (Monument and Malheur fires merged under one management team, 8/11/02)
Started: 9 miles southwest of Unity, 07/12/02
Size: 43,894 acres
Containment: 95 percent.
Evacuations: None at this time.
Damage: None.
On Scene: 419 firefighters.
Cause: Lightning.
HEMLOCK FIRE
Started: 1/2 mile north of Westfir
Size: 136 acres
Containment: 75 percent.
Evacuations: None at this time.
Damage: None.
On Scene: 479 firefighters.
Cause: Under investigation.
BALD GREEN BUTTE
Started: 17 miles east of Burns, 8/11/02
Size: 89 acres.
Containment: 85 percent.
Evacuations: None.
Damage: None.
On Scene: 127 firefighters.
Cause: Human caused, under investigation.
Mattole protester cut out from lockdown w/out law enforcement
Around 4:30 a.m. on August 13th,, 2002, a non-violent activist locked herself to a loader off of Rainbow Ridge in protest of the continued clear-cutting of old-growth owned by Maxxam/Pacific Lumber (PL) in the Mattole Watershed. In recent months, numerous plans in the area have been filed along with eight out of nine of the plans PL has filed start up with the intent to log to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Truck drivers of D.W. Grant Trucking Company and logging contractors for Maxxam/Pacific Lumber Company, were the first to arrive at the blockade. The contractors began violently throwing wooden slash at the protesters and screaming obscenities. The contractors were filmed battering the woman's legs with the wood while she was locked down to the loader. Soon after, another employee tied one of her ankles to the tread of the machine.
Carl Anderson, head of security for Maxxam/PL, along with other workers, cut the ladder that the protester was locked to on the loader. The activist's clothes were unprotected from the sparks of the grinder and her legs received minor burns. She was video taped to be screaming of pain while the extraction was happening. The protester locked down a second time to a nearby log. By this time, the Humboldt County Sheriff had arrived, and the woman was arrested for tresspassing and resisting arrest. She was soon released.
The hands off approach on protesters mandated by the David "Gypsy" Chain wrongful death settlement for Maxxam/PL employees and contractors was disgarded this morning as they threw wood and cut the protester out of her lockdown without the presence of law enforcement.
The Upper and Lower North Forks of the Mattole River, owned by Maxxam/PL contains the largest, low-elevation, coastal Douglas-fir old-growth forest in California, with some areas which have had no roads built or any previous history of logging.
There are documented sightings of Spotted Owl and Red Tree Vole nests within some of the timber harvest areas, as well as populations of rare plants, including a rare lichen called Usnea Longissma. The agencies who have surveyed the area have shown much concern about the many landslides and steep unstable slopes that surround and are within the THP boundary markers as well as for the many threatened and endangered species which are specifically old growth dependant.
What would revenge be to the watermelon basta*ds? Not let them fly on a fossil fuel burning plane, or a car that can't pass emmisions tests? Not letting them live in a house built out of forest products? What would be good punishment for these frauds??
I love taking a bicycle and riding the 22 mile rim road around Crater Lake time to time.
It trully is a special place.
It would take 3-4 photos with my camera to get the fires entire view from here.
The entire horizon is burning. This view is approx 30-35 miles from Grants Pass.
view from Grants Pass just after noon
The same view 4 hours later. This is not a sunset enhanced photo, just a hot fire.
The wind has been blowing the smoke away from us yesterday and today, a welcome break.
From a distance ... A NASA Terra satellite image shows the spread of a wildfire at the
Oregon-California state line that has now burned over 375,000 acres. The Biscuit Fire
was sparked by lightning in the Klamath Mountains in Oregon and has burned over the
state line into California. The columns of smoke Blue wisps billowing from the fire reach
far south down the Pacific Coast. Photo:AFP
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